Lore:Motierre

The Motierres are an old and powerful Breton family firmly established in Chorrol. They have been around since at least the Interregnum period. The family crypts are located in the undercroft of the Great Chapel of Stendarr, and are infamous for being haunted.

The Motierres were present in Chorrol before the Sundering of 2E 579, when a fiery chasm opened up through the center of the city.[1] Despite the devastation, the family remained in Chorrol and attempted to clear the ruins of the destroyed chapel. Lisien Motierre was still present in the city when the Alliance War began in 2E 582, claiming that "not even the gods" could drive the Motierres from Chorrol.[2] One member of the family, Mirabelle Motierre, had abandoned the family some years previous, after growing bored with her affluent lifestyle. She strangled her handmaid with a golden chain, and was invited to join the Gold Coast branch of the Dark Brotherhood. As a Dark Sister, she perfected the art of seduction and disguisement and was a valuable infiltrator. One of her duties was the infiltration and monitoring of Anvil Castle as a serving girl; she aided in the Brotherhood's assassination of Governor Fortunata ap Dugal circa 2E 583. Mirabelle's life was ended by the Order of the Hour's Black Dragon soon after, while she was attempting to avenge the Order's killing of an Imperial named Cimbar, her lover and fellow assassin.[3]

In 3E 433, Francois Motierre was marked for assassination after defaulting on a large debt he owed to criminals. In an attempt to save himself, he contacted the Dark Brotherhood and asked them to fake his death. The Brotherhood were initially unwilling to accept the contract for being out of their usual line of work, but Francois managed to reach a compromise by sacrificing the life of his mother to appease Sithis. After his mother was murdered by Lucien Lachance, the Brotherhood sent an assassin to stab Francois with a poisoned blade, specially treated with Languorwine. The poison put him into a death-like state, fooling the moneylenders, and his body was left to repose in the chapel undercroft. When the assassin entered the crypts a day later to administer the antidote, Motierre's ancestors rose from their graves as zombies, seeing his revival as a desecration of their tomb. However, Motierre was able to escape and subsequently booked passage out of Cyrodiil.[4]

In 4E 201, Amaund Motierre was serving as a member of the Elder Council when he began making arrangements for the assassination of Emperor Titus Mede II, believing that his liege's death would serve to help him rise beyond his station. He traveled to Skyrim to contact the last remaining sect of the Dark Brotherhood, hoping to arrange several major contracts in order to set the wheels in motion. It is unknown if Amaund survived the act of betrayal, or even if the assassination went ahead.[5]